Steven Gerrard was withdrawn from the game against Tottenham as a precaaution due to a tight hamstring, the assistant manager has revealedReuters

Liverpool assistant manager Colin Pascoe has revealed that skipper Steven Gerrard was replaced as a precaution during the game against Tottenham, which the Reds won 3-2 on Tuesday 10 February.

The English midfielder started the game and played until the 68th minute before being replaced by Dejan Lovren, and the assistant manager revealed that it was precautionary as Gerrard felt a little bit tight in his hamstring.

The former Three Lions star has been used sparingly by Brendan Rodgers this season, one of the reasons for the Englishman to decide to leave the club to join Major League Soccer (MLS) outfit LA Galaxy next season.

Tottenham, who were coming on the back of a morale boosting win over Arsenal on Saturday came back from being a goal down twice, but couldn't prevent Mario Balotelli from scoring a late winner and incidentally it was also the Italian's first Premier League goal since he arrived at Anfield in the summer.

Apart from Gerrard, Liverpool's star performer of the season Raheem Sterling also missed the game after picking up some knocks during the Merseyside club's FA Cup replay against Bolton and their Premier League clash against Everton on Saturday.

"It was precautionary [with Steven]. He looked over and could feel a little bit in his hamstring, so we just took him off for precautionary reasons," Pascoe said, as quoted by Liverpool's official site.

The Reds assistant manager neither revealed the extent of Sterling's injury nor gave an indication as to the time frame for his return.

"Raheem was injured. He took a lot of knocks at Bolton - he had a great game at Bolton but took a lot of knocks."

"Again against Everton, he had a couple of blows and in the second half we probably should have taken him off a bit earlier because he was hobbling a bit. That's why he wasn't available tonight," the assistant manager added.